SeaWorld slammed after earnings miss and lowered outlook

SeaWorld shares fell by as much as 7% on Thursday afternoon after the company reported third-quarter results below analysts' estimates.

The important numbers: Adjusted earnings per share was $1.14 ($1.18 expected, according to Bloomberg), while revenues came to $496.9 million ($508.6 estimated).

The marine-mammal park lowered its projection for full-year adjusted earnings (EBITDA) to a range of $360 million to $370 million from a range of $370.1 million to $381.2 million. It earned $370.1 million in 2014.

SeaWorld is still reeling from the 2013 documentary Blackfish that detailed alleged ill treatment of killer whales held at its parks.

Since the documentary aired on CNN in October 2013, the stock has dropped 40%. It's nearly flat year-to-date, and down about 3% for the past 12 months.

The shares closed down 6% at $18.30 on Thursday.

SeaWorld said the film was based on misinformation, and has launched campaigns to answer customers' questions.

Some of these initiatives are what's eating into revenues.

"Due to adverse weather impacts over the last 6 weeks, which caused park closures at three of our locations over key Halloween event weekends, along with increased costs from legal matters and associated reputation initiatives, we are updating our full year 2015 Adjusted EBITDA guidance ...," CEO Joel Manby said in the earnings statement.

Park attendance dipped 0.4% during the third quarter, primarily due to drops in California and Texas, according to SeaWorld.